IPG Mediabrands raises $60,000 for Australian youth mental health organisation batyr

A massive fundraising effort by people at IPG Mediabrands will soon see more than $60,000 donated to batyr, an organisation focused on youth mental health across Australia. The fundraiser was coordinated by UnLtd and took place in Mediabrands’ Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney offices.

Organised and led by Patrick Darcy, managing director of data, insights and technology business Cadreon, Mediabrands people were encouraged to develop the most creative of ways to raise funds for batyr. People hosted cake sales, led PT sessions, walked seven of Sydney’s major bridges, dyed their hair batyr blue, ran ping pong competitions and raffles, built mobile games, held mini movie screenings, sold their own artwork and lots more. The day culminated in an auction of Mediabrands’ most senior executives to spend time at another outside company to offer their professional expertise.

Youth mental health is a major issue in Australia. In a group of 30 students, seven will be experiencing a mental health issue. Of those seven, only two will reach out for support, leaving five suffering in silence.

batyr is a ‘for purpose’ organisation working to change this statistic. Named after a talking elephant from Kazakhstan (ie, the elephant in the room), batyr provides a program that trains young people to safely and effectively speak about their own experience with mental ill health. batyr take these speakers into schools, universities and corporate arenas, running programs that start positive conversations around mental health to help smash the stigma and increase help seeking behaviour.

Says Danny Bass, CEO, Mediabrands: “I am totally blown away by the creativity and entrepreneurialism that so spontaneously emerged from within the business. It was an amazing day that produced an even more amazing result for batyr, who will use the money to accelerate their program across Australia. I couldn’t be more proud of our people.”

Says Sam Refshauge, CEO, batyr: “The money raised will enable us to run 30 batyr@school programs across the country. Programs that are empowering current and future generations of young people to be mentally healthy. We are incredibly grateful for the donation and support from all of IPG Mediabrands and we are looking forward to continuing to grow the partnership in 2018.”

Says Chris Freel, CEO, UnLtd: “The partnership between batyr and Mediabrands is a brilliant example of how our industry can make a massive difference in the lives of young Australians and epitomises why UnLtd exists. We are here to help facilitate these partnerships and are very proud that we have been able to match the needs of our charity partner with that of our corporate partner to drive greater awareness of ‘the elephant in the room’.”

As well as the financial support for batyr through the event, Mediabrands will continue supporting batyr with the provision of media and marketing skill sets from within the group that will support batyr’s business, visibility and social profile. 

To visit batyr’s website, click here.